Jim Belushi to Play Rich Florida Patriarch in ABC Drama Pilot Salvage

Jim Belushi is coming back to ABC — but he won’t have a laugh track behind him this time.

The According to Jim star has joined the cast of the drama pilot Salvage in a series-regular role, our sister site Deadline is reporting. Belushi will play Duke Daniels, the wealthy, larger-than-life patriarch of a rural Florida town: “Owner of the town’s only factory, Duke makes sure things always work to his advantage.”

Salvage stars Toby Kebbell (Black Mirror) as an ex-cop who returns home to his Florida hometown and gets wrapped up in a murder investigation that’s somehow connected to sunken treasure from a lost Spanish galleon. Charity Wakefield (The Player) has signed on to play Duke’s daughter Gwen; This Is Us veteran Don Todd will write the pilot and serve as executive producer.

Belushi, of course, is best known for comedic roles like his starring turn in the ABC sitcom According to Jim, which ran from 2001 to 2009. But he has branched out into dramatic work lately, with roles in the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero and the Woody Allen film Wonder Wheel. He also appeared in Showtime’s recent Twin Peaks revival.